More details released of alleged Einfeld offences

The World Today - Tuesday, 11 December , 2007 12:38:00

Reporter: Brigid Glanville

ELEANOR HALL: To a high profile court case in Sydney and more details have been revealed about the alleged traffic offences committed by a former Federal Court judge.

Marcus Einfeld is facing a committal hearing on 14 charges, including three of perjury, and it all relates back to his attempt to avoid a $77 dollar speeding fine.

Brigid Glanville has been in court and she joins us now.

So, Brigid, was the former judge present at the court today?

BRIGID GLANVILLE: Eleanor, Marcus Einfeld was present. Now it is a committal hearing, so it's just to establish if there's enough evidence to go to trial. So he actually hasn't taken the stand but he has definitely been in court listening and listening, looks like attentively he's got a number of people with him.

He looked very relaxed, his hair is quite long, he hasn't been a former judge, hasn't been a federal judge since 2001. At once stage though, he didn't have a seat and he was standing at the front leaning against the wall.

ELEANOR HALL: There's been a lot of interest in this case. Were many people in court for it this morning?

BRIGID GLANVILLE: There certainly was, and it was actually a smaller courtroom. At one stage, the deputy chief magistrate, Helen Syme got quite stressed and agitated at the number of people in there and told some people to leave and said that if anyone doesn't need to be here.

Eleanor, it must be remember that at these sort of court hearings, there are lots of people that just come along and watch. They're court watchers, and they just watch the spectacular, the drama unfold. So, they had to leave and even at one stage, she said the defendant Marcus Einfeld doesn't have a seat. She had to ask him for a seat. She shut the court down and said, "I'm going to adjourn for 20 minutes" and if when we come back, if people have not left, I will have to get the sheriffs in to take people out.

ELEANOR HALL: Finally, the first witness appeared. It was journalist Vivien Schenker. What has been her involvement in all this?

BRIGID GLANVILLE: Vivian Schenker has known Marcus Einfeld for around 20 years. She met him when she was a journalist at SBS and he was a judge. And she has made two statements to the police: that on 8th January 2006, which is when on one of the traffic offences, the $77 fine was allegedly committed, that she was having lunch with Marcus Einfeld at a lunch, at a restaurant called Pilu Restaurant in Freshwater which is on Sydney's North Shore.

Now, in those two statements, in the first one she said that he picked her up, they had lunch, and then he dropped her home and that he was driving his mother's car. The second statement that was made to the police later on, she said that he picked her up, they had lunch, he dropped her home, and he was actually driving his car, which is a silver Lexus. Now, in court today, she actually said that she couldn't, it would be fair to say that it's unsure what car she was in.

ELEANOR HALL: And how did the person asking the questions, respond to that?

BRIGID GLANVILLE: The Crown who was asking the question, sorry, was Marcus Einfeld's barrister, and he didn't pursue the matter any further. There was lots of talk about what she did when she left the restaurant and she said they went for a stroll along the beach near this restaurant and she reminisced about her childhood and it took about half an hour for them to leave the restaurant.

ELEANOR HALL: And what about these other alleged traffic offences that have been raised?

BRIGID GLANVILLE: It's been alleged that Marcus Einfeld has signed a number of false statutory declarations, and they involve three other traffic offences over a seven and a half year period.

One of them was when he was a Federal Court judge, and on two occasions, one occasion it's alleged that the person that he said was driving the car was actually dead, and that person died the day before the alleged incident.

On another occasion, he said the person he used was actually not living in Australia, was out of the country, this is what the Crown has been alleging, and the Crown also says that Marcus Einfeld forged witness signatures on those statutory declarations.

ELEANOR HALL: Is the Crown suggesting there's a pattern then, to these offences?

BRIGID GLANVILLE: The Crown is suggesting that he lied and that he used more lies to cover up when they realised there isn't, he's changed his story. The Crown has said that he lied to cover up those other lies. So he is on 14 charges, including three of perjury.